


The Best Part of Christmas

by liairene



Series: A Visitor's Guide to Highbury [28]
Category: Persuasion - Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bakery and Coffee Shop, Christmas, F/M, Family Fluff, Gen, Modern Era, Small Towns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:22:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28154559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liairene/pseuds/liairene
Summary: The best part of Christmas is being with your family, and sometimes you get a moment to really appreciate that fact.
Relationships: Anne Elliot/Frederick Wentworth, Elinor Dashwood/Edward Ferrars, Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy
Series: A Visitor's Guide to Highbury [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/908481
Kudos: 12





	The Best Part of Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> This is the third of my Christmas in Highbury stories. I'm planning to have one more coming. I hope you enjoy this.

“Annie!” Elsa hollered.

“What?” her business partner yelled from the office. “What do you need?”

“There’s an LL Bean ad walking into our store, and I don’t think that I can handle it.”

Annie came out to the front counter with a quizzical look on her face. “What in the world are you on about?”

“That,” Elsa replied pointing to the four men standing by the front entrance.

Annie’s husband, Erik, stood taller than the rest with broad shoulders and shoulder-length dark blond and a golden beard. He wore what Elsa called his winter uniform-a black wool coat over a (navy blue this time) plaid flannel shirt and dark jeans. He smiled when he saw his wife, and she giggled. “Hey, honey, what brings you in today?”

“We’re,” he began pointing to himself and his three companions. “We’re having a meeting.”

“About what?” she asked.

“Christmas,” he answered.

“Christmas?” Elsa repeated.

“Since George and Emma are gone for Christmas, we’ve decided that we need to negotiate how we’re all going to do Christmas this year,” Chris Brandon explained, running a hand over his salt and pepper beard. He wore a black cabled cardigan that Elsa remembered his mother knitting for his father many years earlier. Somehow the fact that Chris could effortlessly wear this handknit heirloom with his everyday wardrobe encapsulated his personality for her.

“And you’re having a meeting about this?” Elsa asked.

“We need coffee for this meeting,” her husband explained as he adjusted their daughter on his hip. “Bourbon would ruin it.”

Elsa looked at her husband wearing the navy blue cardigan that she’d knit him after their wedding over a light blue flannel shirt and shook her head. “Well, I’m glad that you’re clear on that.”

“Oh, trust us,” Ed Ferrars said. “We’re quite clear on this. We know ourselves quite well.”

“Do you any of you know what you want to order yet?” Elsa asked. “Chris, maybe?”

Chris laughed. “Am I that predictable?”

She flashed her eyebrows and smiled brightly. “A medium chai latte?”

“You know me too well,” he answered. “I’ll take a hunk of challah to make things more interesting.”

“You’ve got it.” After ringing up Chris, she turned to the others. “Anyone else ready yet?”

Ed who wore a heavy gray sweater and jeans shoved his hands into his pockets and shook his hat-covered head. “Not yet.”

Annie leaned her head close to Elsa’s and whispered, “It really is an LL Bean ad.”

“I know, right? Look at all this flannel and cable-knit sweaters, it’s a dream.”

“It really is.”

Elsa smiled up at Annie. “We’re really lucky, right?”

“To get to see these gorgeous men dressed so excellently?”

“Yeah.”

Annie nodded. “Absolutely, there are serious perks to living in the land of winter.”

Elsa wriggled her eyebrows. “Seriously.”

“Alright, babe,” Will said. “I know what I want.”

“Mama!” Clara inserted brightly reaching towards her mother.

“Mama is working right now, Clara-Beth,” her father told her.

She shook her head solemnly and reached her arms towards her mother again. “Mama!”

Chris swooped in next to them. “Come here, Clara bug. Let’s go look at some books together.”

“No Mama?” she asked as her father passed her to Chris.

He shook his head. “No Mama right now, but Uncle Chris might know where we can find some fun books to look at.”

She put her chubby hand on his bearded cheek. “Bok?”

“Book,” Ed translated. “She knows like four words-papa, mama, no, and book.”

“Oh, so she’s Elsa’s daughter,” Chris said as she adjusted the wiggling toddler on his hip.

“Exactly,” her godfather replied. “She’s very much so Elsa’s daughter from her dark brown curls to her hand knit socks.”

Chris laughed. “I think that she gets those curls both coming and going.”

Ed looked at his cousin’s hair and then shrugged. “You might have a point there.”

“Thanks,” Chris replied. “Now decide what you want to order while this little angel and I go explore the children’s section.”

“She likes Sandra Boynton,” Ed called after Chris.

“Who doesn’t?”

* * *

It took a bit of time, but eventually all four men were settled around a wooden table with drinks and a toddler. “All right,” Ed said as he set up his laptop. “Let’s get this started. I’m building a spreadsheet. Erik, where are you Christmas Eve?”

“My whole family will be up here. So we’re planning to have dinner with them and then go to Mass after dinner. Christmas day itself will be relatively chill.”

Ed nodded as he typed. “And Chris, what are you doing?”

“Dinner at my mom’s with her and Eliza on Christmas Eve and then evening Mass, and then I’ll be at the Bennets all day on Christmas.”

“You don’t have any place else you want to be?” Erik asked.

Chris leveled his dark eyes on his business partner. “What are you trying to imply?”

“Are you sure that there isn’t anyone else who might want you to spend Christmas with them?”

“If you’re referring to what I think you are, the answer is no. That’s not where that is yet.”

Will looked at Ed, warm blue Darcy eyes meeting warm blue Darcy eyes. “Do you know what they’re talking about?”

Ed shook his head. “Nope, not a clue. You?”

Will pressed his lips together and shook his own head. “Nope.”

“Well, at least we’re not alone.”

Chris rolled his eyes. “You’ll find out soon enough if there’s anything to find out.”

“Well, that’s not at all vague or anything,” Ed said lightly.

“Cryptic, one might say,” Will added.

“You two are like the Fred and George Weasley of this conversation,” Erik quipped.

“What?” Ed said throwing his hands up in the air. “What else would you expect? We’re basically twins.”

“We’re trying to bring levity to the situation,” Will added bouncing Clara on his lap.

Chris rolled his eyes and took a bite of challah.

Erik shook his head. “We just need to sort out the holiday plans around here. I’m not sure why that involves your Laurel and Hardy routine.”

Will shrugged. “I’ve never seen it as a Laurel and Hardy routine.”

“Well, you’re not the Weasley twins. That’s George’s and my thing.”

"Oh lord," Ed began.

“Whatever,” Will said waving a hand. “Ed, what are you doing for Christmas?”

“Dinner on Christmas Eve at Nora’s mom’s house and then Mass at St. Mart’s, and then the next day we’ll be back at her mom’s for most of the day. Presumably, we’ll do evening drinks at your place for the Darcy gift exchange?”

Will nodded. “Gina and her boyfriend will be with us for the holiday.”

“Boyfriend?” Chris repeated. “She has a boyfriend?”

“She has a boyfriend,” Will said flatly.

“Should I ask how we feel about this?” Erik queried.

“We don’t have positive emotions about this,” Ed answered quickly.

Will sighed. “He might be okay.”

“He probably isn’t,” Ed added.

“Does he have a name?” Chris asked.

“We haven’t bothered to learn that,” Ed replied.

Will smacked Ed. “We know his name. Some of us have even met him. His name is Alex Marshall. He’s a baseball player.”

“How did she meet him?”

“Mutual friends,” Will told Chris.

“Enemies of ours now, naturally,” Ed added.

“Good lord,” Will said, turning to his cousin. “You weren’t this bad when your own sister started dating someone.”

“I was younger. I don’t like Anna as much as I like Gina.”

Erik stared at Ed. “I don’t know if that’s a thing that you should go around admitting publicly.”

He shrugged. “I don’t think that she likes me at all.”

Will shook his head. “Either way, you’re taking my sister having a boyfriend pretty hard.”

“She’s a little kid, Will.”

Chris looked at him. “Ed, she’s twenty-five years old. I think that she’s allowed to date.”

“She’s my baby cousin.”

“You’re thirty-five, Ed,” Erik informed his friend.

“And she’s still my baby cousin.”

“She’s a grown adult, and she’s bringing her boyfriend to Christmas,” Chris stated firmly. “Now, Ed, are you on your own spreadsheet yet?”

Ed grumbled and hastily typed away at his computer. “Yes, I am.”

“Good,” Erik returned. “Will, what are you guys doing?”

“Dinner with just Gina and Rick at our place on Christmas Eve, we’ll get up and do presents with them and this snicker-roo in the morning and then go to Mass, and then we’ll be at Elsa’s parents’ house most of the day. And then we’ll either do the Darcy cousin thing in the evening at our place or at Elsa’s parents, depending on how Miss Clara is doing.”

“Hi!” Clara intoned cheerfully waving at Ed. Then she saw Erik across the table from herself and she started reaching across the table. “Hi, you! Hi!”

Erik chuckled. “Do you want me to take her?”

“I don’t know if I have much choice in the matter,” Will replied. “I think that she is determined to go see you.”

Erik stood up and walked over to Will. He stretched out his arms to the toddler. “Hi, Clara, are you coming with me?”

She grinned and reached up her arms to him. “Hi, you!”

Chris looked at Will. “Where did that come from?”

Will shook his head as he passed his daughter to Erik. “I have no clue. She just started that. She calls Elsa Mama, and I’m Papa. But everyone else so far seems to just be ‘you.’”

Erik took Clara back to his chair and settled her on his lap. “I’ll work on that. Can you say Erik, Clara?”

“You!”

“What about Chris?” he tried.

“You!”

“Can you say Ed?” her godfather tried leaning close to her.

She grinned and grabbed one of Ed’s hands. “Ed!”

Ed kissed his goddaughter’s forehead before smirking at Erik. “Now you know who she likes best.”

“Now you know who has the easiest name to say,” Chris replied.

“Ed!” Clara announced clapping her hands.

“She loves me best,” Ed said simply.

“Do you want to hold her then?” Erik offered.

“Not with a cup of coffee and a laptop, no.”

Clara shook her head. “No!”

Ed looked at Erik. “I think that she wants to stay with you anyway.”

Erik smiled and bounced the toddler a little. “I’m fine with that. I’m quite fine with that.”

Only Will caught the sadness in Erik’s eyes as he bounced the baby. Erik and Annie had been married for only four months less than Will and Elsa, but despite their hopes and best efforts they hadn’t been able to have a baby yet.

“Okay,” Ed inserted abruptly. “Everyone is sorted for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Chris, if you want to come to Darcy cousin drinks at Will’s, you’re of course.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Well, your cousins are all going to be in Arizona, so we thought that we’d let you be an honorary Darcy cousin for the day.”

Chris’s only sibling, his brother Lucas, had died some years earlier, his final illness having precipitated Chris’s return to Highbury in the first place. He had no cousins on his father’s side of the family, but his mother’s sister had two living children, Emma and Isabella Knightley. Chris, his mother, and his niece usually spent the holidays with the Woodhouse-Knightley family, but with the Woodhouse family headed to Arizona for the holiday, the Bennets had invited the Brandons to spend the holiday with them.

“Okay,” Chris assented. “I’ll come.”

“Good,” Ed replied. “Okay, so we’ve got everyone sorted for Christmas Eve and the actual day. Should one of us pick up George’s annual day after Christmas shindig?”

“We can do that,” Will replied.

“You guys already have your New Year’s Day Party,” Erik said. “We could host the day after Christmas.”

“Are you sure?” Will asked. “You guys are hosting your family on Christmas Eve and the day itself. That's a lot. Plus, our place is bigger than the apartment.”

“We’ve had plenty of parties at the apartment over the years,” Erik told him. “It’s never been a problem before.”

“I just don’t want to impose on you.”

“He’s thinking about space for Clara and probably Madeleine taking their afternoon naps,” Chris elaborated. “If we’re at his house, Clara can nap in her room, and Madeleine can nap either in the guest room or his room. And it’ll be fine because they’re upstairs, but in the apartment, they’ll be in the room next to the room where all of the people are.”

“And I don’t know about Madeleine,” Ed added. “But I know that Clara always naps best at home.”

“How do you know that?” Chris asked, his brow furrowed quizzically.

Ed sat up straight and smiled proudly. “I’m a really good godfather.”

“He’s also babysat her several times, and we’ve tried to have her nap at his apartment before.”

“It didn’t go well,” Ed commented. “And her Thanksgiving nap was horrible.”

“Okay, tiny dictatrix,” Erik said looking down at the child on his lap. “We’ll have the day after Christmas party at your parents’ house. Are you happy?”

“You!” she replied cheerfully.

“This is life with children,” Will commented. “All social events must be at your house to accommodate your children’s napping tendencies but to allow you to still maintain relationships with your child-free friends.”

Chris laughed. Ed rolled his eyes. Erik just shook his head.

* * *

The day after Christmas was a tradition that George had started about ten years earlier. He invited his friends to come over to his house, eat leftovers, watch sports, and enjoy each other’s company. Children were welcome, even encouraged. George had instituted a “bring your own leftovers” policy the first year, and his friends had run with the idea as the years went on.

Will and Elsa were determined to continue as many of George’s traditions as they could. “We’re not taking over the party forever. We’re just babysitting it for a year,” Will had explained to Erik.

Nora and Ed arrived first around noon toting cookies and rice casserole. “Marianne forgot to tell us that Brandon doesn’t eat rice, so we have a ton of this leftover,” Nora said as she passed the mostly-full casserole dish to Will.

“Is he on a low-carb diet or something?”

“No, he just doesn’t trust rice,” Ed replied.

“He doesn’t trust rice?” Will repeated.

Ed shook his head. “That’s what he said. He sat down at the dinner table and informed us that he didn’t trust rice.”

“But your mom’s rice casserole is amazing,” Elsa said to Nora.

She shrugged. “I know. I love that stuff.”

“I just can’t believe that someone doesn’t trust rice,” Will said. “It’s like the most universal food.”

“Who doesn’t trust rice?” Gina Darcy queried as she came into the room holding her niece’s hand. While Will had more of his father’s physical features, Gina with her subtle curves and straight light brown hair was practically a clone of Anne Ferrars-Darcy.

“Hey, Bean,” Ed said hugging his younger cousin.

“Hey, trouble,” she replied. “Now, who doesn’t trust rice? I have to know.”

“Brandon.”

“Chris Brandon, owner of the Green Dragon and our friend?”

Ed laughed. “No, Marianne’s boyfriend Brandon; sorry, I know it’s confusing. He’s Brandon C., and Chris is C. Brandon.”

Gina waved a hand casually. “It’s fine. I barely ever see Marianne anyway. I doubt that I’ll get confused about her boyfriend too much.”

“Anyway,” Nora inserted awkwardly. “We came a little early because we wanted to tell you guys something before everyone is here.”

“Oh, yeah?” Gina said. “Just those two or can I stay too?”

Ed smiled. “You’re my favorite cousin. You can stay.”

“And on that note, you can leave,” Will replied.

“I jest. I jest.”

“Anyway,” Nora began again. “We have some news that we don’t want to be completely public yet, but we want to tell you guys first because you’re family.”

Elsa looked at her friend knowingly. “Oh, yeah? Is it what I think it is?”

“Maybe? Probably?”

“If it is, I’m so excited!”

Will laughed. “Just let them say it.”

“We’re having a baby,” Nora beamed. “We’re having a baby in August. We aren’t telling everyone for a while yet, but because you two are family-three, sorry, Gina-we’re telling you now.”

Elsa immediately hugged her friend while squealing. “Oh my gosh, I’m so excited for you. You’re going to be a great mom. Oh my goodness, this is wonderful. I love this. I love you!”

Will nodded and shook Ed’s hand. “Congratulations, dude. That’s awesome.”

“Bee?” Clara queried.

Ed picked her up. “Are you trying to say baby, Clara? You’re going to have a baby cousin.”

“No, Bee,” she repeated pointing at her aunt. “Bee!”

“She’s turned Gina Bean into bee,” the woman in question explained.

“Should I give you to Aunt Gina?” Ed asked.

“Bee!” Clara said yet again.

Her aunt took her and settled the toddler on her hip. “Hi, Clara.”

Clara leaned her head against her aunt’s cheek and happily said, “Bee.”

“You have a fan,” Ed commented.

Gina smiled. “It’s mutual. I’m her biggest fan too.”

“And her biggest source of Christmas presents too,” Will quipped.

“We had to check an entire bag just for Clara’s presents,” Alex Marshall commented as he entered the room.

“Nothing but the best for my best girl,” Gina replied kissing her niece’s cheek.

“If this is how you treat your niece, I’m curious as to how you’ll treat your own children,” the redheaded young man remarked.

Gina laughed. “I’m her aunt. I have to spoil her. But when it comes to my own children, you can bet that they won’t be spoiled.”

“Oh lord,” Nora breathed.

“What?” Elsa asked.

“An aunt, Marianne is going to be our child’s aunt.”

“Oh lord,” Ed sighed.

“She doesn’t try to spoil Jack’s son, does she?” Gina offered optimistically.

“No, but she doesn’t like Jack,” Nora said. “She likes us. When Harry was born, she told me that she wasn’t going to dote a child who would probably be groomed to hate her but she would definitely dote on my ‘sweet little angels’ when they came.”

“Lord,” Will sighed.

“Yeah, and she’s going to expect to be godmother too.”

“Oh lord,” Ed moaned. “I never thought about all of that.”

“It’s okay,” Gina said. “It’ll all be fine. You just need to explain to her that your world doesn’t revolve around her.”

“Yeah, good luck with that one,” Will said, clapping Ed on the shoulder. “Good luck.”

* * *

Erik and Annie arrived shortly thereafter with more cookies, the remaining half of their Christmas ham, a good-sized portion of brisket, and presents for Clara. “How is your family?” Elsa asked.

“Good,” Erik said. “It was really nice to see them up here. But they all left a little bit ago. They’ll let us know when they get home.”

“It was wonderful to have them, but it really made me realize how small the apartment is,” Annie added.

“You could buy a house,” Ed suggested.

“We could, but we’re never going to find anything that is so perfectly situated for our jobs,” Annie said. “And we don’t need more room really right now.”

“Chris has a house,” Ed offered.

“Well, that’s Chris for you,” Erik replied. “He wants a house. He also owns a dog and therefore needs a yard.”

“Is he ever going to get married?” Gina queried.

“Given how long he’s been single,” Elsa replied. “I think that it would take someone very superior to tempt him to give up sole possession of the remote control.”

Nora and Annie both laughed aloud catching Elsa’s reference. Will just shook his head and told Alex, “Sometimes my wife is odd.”

“But you still love her,” Gina remarked. “And that’s all that really matters.”

* * *

Alice and Chris seemed to arrive together. Or at least, when Will opened the door, he found the two of them along with Alice’s three daughters. Chris had not-quite two-year-old Madeleine balanced on his hip and a large tote containing fixings for roasted Brussels sprouts and various cocktails on his other shoulder. “What?” he said when he gave Will the tote. “I don’t have leftovers. I was with your people yesterday.”

Will laughed. “We would have covered you on food. Your libations are more than enough of an offering.”

* * *

Gina and Elsa were setting out dishes on the dining room table. Gina elbowed her sister-in-law. “Look at that.”

Elsa looked up to see Chris helping Madeleine take off her coat. “Okay, Lottie,” they heard him say. “Give me your coat so I can hang it up, and then take off your boots.”

“Yeah?” Elsa said turning back to Gina.

“Does that mean _anything_?”

Elsa pressed her lips together and furrowed her brow. “I’m not sure. It might. Or they might have just arrived at the same time. He is really good with those girls-with kids in general really.”

“Hmmm,” Gina replied.

“Only time will tell.”

“Well then tell me when time tells you,” Gina whispered quickly as Alice approached them.

* * *

The gathering went on all afternoon. Madeleine and Clara both managed to successfully nap. Marianne and her Brandon put in a brief but delightful appearance, leaving just as Madeleine was waking up. “These kids are so cute to look at, but they make so much noise after a while,” she told Annie. “You should count yourself lucky that you don’t have to deal with any.”

“Ignore her,” Alice hugged Annie tightly after Marianne left. “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She told me that I’m lucky that I don’t have to deal with a husband messing up my space all of the time.”

“Oh, Alice,” Annie sighed.

“Yeah, I’d give anything to have Oliver back here messing up the bathroom again. And my cinnamon rolls will never be as good as his were.”

Annie hugged Alice back. “I’m sorry, Al. I really am.”

“Thanks,” Alice smiled. “Thankfully, I have good friends and three really wonderful daughters.”

“And Chris?”

The darker-haired woman blushed. “We’ll see? We started seeing each other in early November.”

“Ha!” Annie almost barked. “I knew something was up.”

Alice blushed more. “Yeah, it’s early days still, but you know…he’s Chris?”

“Yeah, he’s Chris. He’s a good egg, Alice.”

“I know. I really know.”

* * *

A bit later, Alice found Elsa standing in a corner of the great room looking out over the room with a smile on her face. “What are you looking at?”

“Everyone having a good time,” she replied. Then she pointed at the group of men standing near the fireplace. “And that, I like that.”

Alice followed Elsa’s finger to see Chris Brandon with Madeleine on his hip again, Ed with his arm around Alex’s shoulders, and Will holding Clara while gesturing animatedly to Erik who was laughing.

“So, Ed likes Alex after all?” Alice asked.

Elsa laughed. “They’re basically best friends. Last night, they discovered that they have the same favorite beer, they like the same board games, and they both love Mel Brooks movies. You should have seen them. It was hilarious.”

“I bet.”

Elsa turned her gaze to Alice. “So, Chris, huh?”

“Have you been talking to Annie?”

“No!”

“Then who told you?”

Elsa pointed to her own eyes. “I can see a church by daylight, Mrs. Kingsleigh.”

Alice laughed. “So, yeah, it’s happening.”

Her friend raised her wine glass as if in a toast. “I’m so happy for you.”

“It’s early days. We’ll see how it all goes.”

Elsa nodded towards the fireplace. “Well, if that’s anything to go by, I think your kids have won him over.”

Alice looked back at the men around the fireplace. Three of them were wearing flannel and the other two were in sweaters. “It’s basically an LL Bean ad over there.”

“I know,” Elsa replied. “I love it. It’s the best part of Christmas.”

* * *

The End...for now!


End file.
